Island Adventures & Sweet Potato Fries

There is nothing more soothing to my soul than a long weekend trip to the west coast of Vancouver Island to explore the ruggedly beautiful beaches.

After a fun day exploring the PNW, sweet potato “fries” hit the spot.

Method

• Wash and slice two large sweet potatoes
• Arrange on baking tray
• Drizzle with olive oil, nutritional yeast and freshly ground pepper
• Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes

Enjoy

Beach Yoga & Choco Energy Balls

Throwing it back this Thursday to last summer’s beach yoga. Practicing barefoot in the mud during low tide took me right back to happily playing in the mud when I was a child.

And what is summer all about if not keeping your inner child happy?

Another thing that keeps my inner child happy is chocolate. Here’s a grown-up, healthy and vegan chocolate snack that will make your inner child smile and do your body good:

Choco Energy Balls

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup raw cacao
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Watermelon Smoothies

When I feel like practicing yoga in a place where I can sink into the lush green beauty of nature; a place filled with towering trees, pretty pink lily pads, ribbiting frogs, still herons focused on catching a fish for their lunch and ducks gliding through the forest of lilies, I stroll through Stanley Park’s tree lined trails to a little hidden oasis called Beaver Lake.

Beaver Lake is a stunning and serene setting to meditate and practice yoga.

Bird chirps fill the air, frogs ribit happily from their watery home and the calm, peaceful lake is bursting with fuchsia lily pads.

I can easily spend an afternoon soaking up the beauty of the lake, meditating and practicing poses.

And after a few hours of practice, peace and meditation, I head home to replenish and rehydrate with a sweetly simple watermelon smoothie.

Ingredients

• 2 cups watermelon, cubed
• 1 T fresh mint
• Big squeeze of lime

Place all ingredients in a blender, blend thoroughly and enjoy the hydrating and antioxidant ingredients that will do your body good.

Hiking and Appies

I love a trek to St. Mark’s Summit on a misty fall day.

Being surrounded by nature’s beauty makes my soul sing.

And, after a chilly excursion to the mountaintop, this dish helps to fill your hunger and warm your soul:

Savoury Puff Pastry

The Pastry:

Ingredients

• 2 1/3 cups flour
• 14 T butter, frozen
• pinch salt
• 10 T chilled water
• 1 T lemon juice

Instructions

1. Place butter in the freezer overnight
2. In a jug, mix together water and lemon juice and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mix together flour and salt. Everything should be cold so you can put the bowl in the fridge to chill.
4. Grate the frozen butter directly into the flour mix. Stir the frozen butter into the flour with a knife.
5. Add the liquid, holding a little back just in case you don’t need it all. Add just enough water to keep the pastry together.
6. Bring the dough together to form a ball, then place in fridge for at least one hour.

The Recipe:

Form puff pastry into little boats. Int the centre, add sliced cherry tomatoes and a layer of bocconcini and top with a fresh basil leaf.

Bake at 250 degrees for half and hour. Serve. Warm your soul.

Local Living and Blueberry Muffins

I’ve been eating only local foods lately for two reasons ~ first, fresh BC foods taste so incredibly good and second, our beautiful province is in a state of emergency again because of global warming (and human) induced forest fires. We have over 600 fires burning in total right now and I need, for my own happiness, positivity and mental health, to be part of the global warming solution.

I already have what some would consider an extremely green lifestyle ~ live in a small space, don’t have a car, don’t love being a consumer so keep my possessions to a minimum…but, with dark smoke hanging in our skies and beautiful BC being choked by smoke and fire, I need to do more.

So, I’ve been educating myself lately about the huge carbon footprint created by transporting our food across the world. Did you know that Canada ships farmed salmon to China for processing and then the fish are shipped back here for our consumption. Ugh, the madness has to stop. And what kind of chemicals and preservatives does our food have to be laced with to stay “fresh” during the many miles covered to get to our plate? As someone who grew up with a big backyard garden that fed the family, what is now happening with global food transport seems so unnatural and is clearly taking its toll on the planet.

To bring a more natural, eco friendly way of eating back into my life, I’m rediscovering the 100 Mile Diet. The last time I did this challenge a few years ago I felt amazing and eating close to home helps our beautiful planet that is currently in crisis. It might seem like we don’t have a lot of personal power in saving the earth but as David Suzuki says, if several million people made even small changes to their lives the result would be astronomical!

Last but not least, local food tastes so amazing. In fact it’s bursting with flavour. An imported papaya from the other side of the world just doesn’t compare to fresh, beautiful BC fruit!

And, to get you inspired to love local, here’s a yummy, healthy recipe that features BC berries:

Wholesome Blueberry Muffins

• 2 1/2 cups Anita’s Whole Wheat Flour

• 1 cup raw honey

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 cup blueberries, fresh and local

• 1/3 cup oil if your choice

• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the dry ingredients together, then whisk the wet ingredients together and add to dry, folding in blueberries last. Put in lined muffins cups and bake for 25 minutes. Then enjoy the goodness!

Sunday Smoothie

This luscious smoothie is full of vitamins, antioxidants and enzymes to nourish and energize.

Serves 2 smoothie-loving people.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups cashew milk
• 1 handful fresh spinach
• 4 romaine leaves
• 1 orange
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 tsp of fresh ginger
• 1 cucumber, peeled
• 1 scoop Vega greens plus protein powder

DIRECTIONS

1. Toss everything in your blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Pour into a glass (so you can see the beautiful shade of green) and enjoy!

Snow Day

My inner child, who grew up in snowy Ontario, feeling an incredible amount of joy at an unexpected West Coast snow storm.

I made snow angels, ran through snow banks with wolves (aka. off leash Kitsilano dogs), looked in wonder at the heavy, snow laden boughs on the neighborhood trees, stuck my tongue out and caught snowflakes on it and just, in general, marveled at the beauty of nature.

Then I went home and wrote this in my journal:

“Maybe after journeying through all of these years, occasionally having to jump through rings of fire, now is the time to gather all of the joyful things back into my life. To notice and remember every day all of the things, big and small that give me joy.”

And now for some nourishing food:

Raspberry Banana Smoothie Bowl

• 3 large bananas
• 1/2 cup of coconut or almond milk
• 1/2 cup raspberries

Blend together and top with Love Crunch chocolate granola and dark chocolate sauce.

An eco-friendly dog birthday party

Yes, you read the title right. An Eco-friendly doggie b-day party happened a few days ago for the Nickster’s 8th birthday.

What made it eco-friendly and why am I having a birthday party for my dog? Good questions.

I’ll start with the why. I never had kids and totally missed out on the fun of having little rugs rats running around, excited and on over-drive from a chocolate cake sugar buzz. Now that I’m a dog mom, I get to invite my friends over for wine and cake and get to see a bunch of excited pups run around barking and chasing each other. Close enough.

And how did I make my fete eco-friendly? In so many ways that I’m excited to tell you about.

Here are the top ten:

1. The (super elegant) crystal stemware I used is from craigslist
2. The beautiful turquoise bowls were from Salvation Army
3. The chocolate cake was vegan
4. I asked for the plastic to be removed and re-used when I bought the flowers
5. I picked some of the flowers from an abandoned lot
6. The (people) menu was vegan
7. The only gifts allowed were edible, ie. treats
8. I asked that guests didn’t use packaging for the gifts
9. The wine and sparkling wine were local, from the Okanagan
10. The napkins were from the Salvation Army

And, with all of this eco-friendliness, the party was still very chic, and very easy on the budget. Simple is elegant, easy on the earth and cost effective too. xo

World Environment Day and Homemade Hummus

I was really hoping to get this post out yesterday which was World Environment Day but I spent the evening hanging out at the beach and celebrating the day by soaking up our beautiful natural world.

The big topic of conversation with my friends yesterday was the effect of meat consumption on human health, the environment and, last but not least, the suffering of animals in the factory farm system.

I read an article recently that if the human population keeps growing at the rate it is, food supplies will have to increase by 70%. 70%! Imagine cutting down that many more forests to raise animals to eat? Forests which cool the planet to raise cattle whose gas when fed an unnatural diet of grains (which we are currently feeding most cattle) create methane gas that damages the ozone layer and contributes to global warming. Is it just me, or does that sound like a very sad recipe for disaster and a burning hot planet? And beyond the environmental consequences of excessive meat consumption, it does our bodies good too to stay away from too much meat.

And don’t think that you have to give up meat. Change doesn’t have to be so black and white. The less meat we all eat the better our health is, the less animals we hurt and the healthier and cleaner our world is. Every meal that we eat beans and grains and veggies is a big step in the right direction. If every person ate, say, half the meat they are currently eating, the planet would be transformed. The transformation would be a cleaner environment, less cruelty and healthier humans. It’s a win/win/win.

And to get started, here is my hummus recipe. I whip this up in my blender, serve with an herb flat bread and a big salad full of veggies and avocado and dinner is served. Yummy, healthy and cruelty-free. Oh, and the magic is in the truffle oil.

Homemade Olive Hummus

• 1 can chickpeas or 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
• fresh lemon juice from 1 large lemon
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 3 chopped black olives
• 2 T Italian parsley
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon truffle oil
• Salt to taste

Blend all ingredients together and serve.

Beyoncé and Me

I was perusing an awesome Vegan cookbook I had been given for Christmas last night and couldn’t help but think a) how pretty all of the food looked and b) how much I admire vegans. As an animal lover, how could I not adore all of the people on this planet who don’t actually eat any of the them?

I’ve tried to go vegan countless times before but, since I’m a little anemic, find it super challenging to eat a totally plant based diet for more than a few months. As I was thinking about this dilemma, I decided to check my Facebook feed for the umpteenth time (as any self respecting social media addict would do) and what did I stumble on?

This:

Beyonce and Jay Z’s 22 Day Vegan Challenge

I admit I took this as a sign from the Universe that I needed to do this vegan challenge just like Beyoncé had done. I realize that she and Jay Z did this a couple of years ago but they’re still on the vegan bandwagon with a new 22 day home delivery service that is totally plant based. And, hey, there’s nothing wrong with being a couple of years late to a challenge, right?

So, not only will I be looking at the pretty pictures in my Oh She Glows cookbook, I’ll be sampling quite a few of the recipes for the next 22 days and chronicling my faves here.

Stay tuned for the successes, failures and everything in between as I journey along the Vegan Challenge.